critical condition after a large fire at a high rise in the district. investigators are trying to figure out if it was intentionally set. and right now d.c. police have one person in custody in connection with a deadly shooting on the u street corridor. a group ofeople were leaving a funeral yesterday when somebody started firing shots. we're keeping a close eye on the weather. heavyain is headed in our direction. news 4 midday begins right now. goorngs, everyone, welcome to news 4 midday. i'm barbara harrison. it's tuesday, september 29, 2010. invtigators are trying to figure out what sparked a deadly fire in a i had rise in northwest d.c. it started in the 3100 block of 16th street in the columbia heights ighborhood. tracee wilkins has more. >> reporter: first of all, i

want to talk about how this is still impacting 16th street traffic here. as you can see behind me they are only allowing southbound traffic, not northbound traffic but just southbound traffic to make its way into d.c. this right now is a one way street here in this are commuters need to know about that. it's definitely impacting folks in the city. there are still emergency vehicles here in front of the apartment building. the investigation still continuing. now here you can see they have the windows open in the apartment building and let me explain to use. folks who experienced this fire, who were inside the building when this happened, they tell me that the smoke was so stng, it

smelled almost like rubber burning and because of that it was very difficult for them to breathe. they also sayhat as they were trying to exit, when they saw that in some cases it wasn't safe for them to exit the best thing for them to do, head to one of these windows and just get some air and wait for officials to come and rescue them. there were folks who were seriously injured in this fire. to explain how serus this was, i'm told by witnesses who we out front of this building before firefighters arrived here on the scene that there were some people who got out on their own. these people were sevely burn including this child and we're told that child is in critical condition at children's hospital. this witness also tell me that while he was standing in front of this building he witnessed someone jump from most likely the sixth floor of this building and he ss when he think it ground it was a very ha hit, a very grask scene here. investigators are investigating a few things. first of all the fire that seemed t have happened in what they are calling a common area,

the hallway here, right near the stairwell of the fifth floor that smoke spread so quickly and the fire spread quickly. fire was showing through the roof of this building going up three more stories. because of where the fire happened it was very difficult for residents to make it out. some folks actually could not go do down stairlls. two apartments were damaged by this fire. this is the sweeter and intensity of this heat. eight peopleere transported to the hospital, fiveeopletaken to the burn center, two to george washington and this child who was taken to children's hospital. the folks who live in this building, they have been taken to a temporary shelter and they are going to stay there for a couple of days some of these people because it will take them a while for them to get this apartment building back in order. i'm tracee wilkins, live in northwest. the investigation in this fire is continue. barbara, back toou. we're following a developing story ut of northwest

washington this morning. police have made an arrest in that deadly shooting outside of a funeral in the u street corridor. it happened yesterday. following the funeral of a woman who was murder early they ar mont month. >> reporter: 21-ye-old brandon miller was arrested. tips are still coming in and they are hoping to at least to arrest least one more person in this case. almost 24 hours since gunfire and mayhem broke out on u street northwest, mayor adrian fenty and police chief cathy lanier announced o rest. >> this is one of the most brazen shootings that's ever happened in d.c. >> reporter: police arrested 1-year-old brandon miller of

girard street northwest. investigators searched a home and collected evidence there last night even towing a car believedo be involved in the getaway. the shootings happened outside the walker memorial baptist church following theuneral of murder victim ashley mccray. mourners were leaving when gunfire erupted directed at this suv which wrecked and then flipped over. inside 21-year-old jamal coates died. police skrikd the motive as an ongoing argumentbetween two gangs. >> the neral of ashley mccray, that case was closed with an arrest. we don't believe that has anthing at all to do with gang activity. so, i think it's more probably some other dispute. >> reporter: suspect brandon miller will be charged with rst deee murder whi armed. >> ultimately what happened is both tragic, scary and leaves everybody depending on the

police department to continue their great work. >> reporter: agn, police think one arrest, looking for a second suspect in this case. they are also looking for a second car, a 2001 white buick sedan with d.c. plates. they say that car may have also left the scene yesterday. if you have any information to give police a call. you can leave a tip anonymously. live on u street, elaine reyes, news 4. this is the thd shooting following a funeral in the district in just the past year. back in march you may remember nine people were shot, fourf them killed in southeast d.c. after attending a funeral earlier that day. in that case prosecutors say the man behind the drive by planned attack the actual funeral but later settled on shooting at the stoop ere mourners gathered. then last november 19-year-old george wallings was shot and killed after coming out of

hiding to attend a funeral in northwest washington. this morning we're watching a tropical storm, nicole it's called. it's happening down there in the area of florida and cuba. the rain started falling in the florida keys early this morning. the area could get up to eight inches of rain today. the storm was upgraded from a depression to a tropical storm just moments ago. let's see what our weather looking like. we got some clouds. pleasant. 69 degrees. et's take a look down. >> you nd a pair of galoshe search. >> i'm going to pull mine out. we're talking about a whole lot of rain coming to the area late tonight and runningight through thursday. as we said tropical storm now nicole just upgrade ad couple of mines ago. you can see the area shrouded in a whole bunch of clouds right

now. you can see across the area we have some showers down around da city and colonial beach, st. mary's too. moderate and even heavy rain down through the northern neck and down around petersburg. biggest rain further south down around florida. that low pressure system off the coast of north carolina that's what's bringi the rain to our area right now. the bigger rains will come from tropical storm nicole. it makes its way up the coast, about a bra and will bri a lot of rain through the areas thrgh the east probably as much rain as what they normally see in a month coming to them in a day. temperatures outside right now at 69 degrees. in fairfax, franconia and maryfield at 66 degrees. la plataat 66. montgomery, laytonsville at 67. moderate to heavy rain coming in to the area later this evening. 69 to 73 your temperature for today, the high temperature will be just a tad warmer tomorrow

but that will be tropical air, very humid, very wet and some wind to deal with too. we'll talk more about that storm system coming up. >> kind of what it felt like yesterday. >> exactly. what we got with the remnants of the last tropical storm. more windand rain area wide with this system. >> great. we'll see you again shortly. police are investigating an accident involving a school bus. happened about 45 minutes ago on river road in potomac. the school bus driver and the driver of one of those cars were both taken to hospital. there were about two dozen students on the bus from st. stephen school in alexandria. we'll check in with jerry edwards and fi out how traffic is moving. >> authorities are still up there and the investigation on that river road accident does continue. may find a lane or two blocked but progress is being made. should be out of the roadway hopefully in short order. let's head into town.

update you on the latest information along 16th street, seeing the building fire. this morning during thooigt of all the activity, the 16th corridor was completely closed arou columbia road up towards irving street northwest. traffic is able to get by here in the midday both directs but under police direction. georgia avenue, 14th street a viable alternative. let's see how we're doing elsewhere. capital beltway looking pretty good. here's the inner loop. a little bit below the speed limit. leaving springfield up to 6 we spotted crews working around the area on some of the interstates on the beltway, parts of 270 working to clear the storm drains in preparation fo all that rain. keep an eye out for that. . class at prince george's community college in largo are cancelled today.

the break in a four inch natural gas pipeline. the gas leak was reported jt after 8:00 this morning. roads in the area were closed and nearby college buildings were evacuated. the race for maryland's next governor has been seen as a political horse ra up until now. a new poll out this morning shows with just five weeks until election day one of the candidates may be pulling ahead. the new "the washington post" poll shows that among likely voters governor o'malley leeds former governorob ehrlich. the latest poll did find that ehrlich is leading among independent leaders but lacks the bipartisan support that he received whenhe ran back in 2002 governor o'malley is hoping for a boost from the white house. president obama voiced his suppo for the incumbent governor in a new radio ad out this week. >> maryland, you have a choice

in the election this fall. a choice whether you keep ving forward with the hard-working leadership and vision of governor martin o'malley or do you slip backwards. in the toughest of times martin o'mley has moved maryland forward. >> the ad began running in baltimore yesterday and will start airing in the d.c. market next week. the man expected to bcome the next mayor of d.c. wants to hear from district residents before t november election. during the mon of october vincent gray will host town meetings in each of the city sees wargtds. he wants to hear from citizens abut issues that matter the most to them. as for the current d.c. mayor he's claiming his efforts to fix d.c. schools may have cost him his jobs. achievi education reform comes at a political cost. he made those remarks during an

nbc's education nation panel discussion in new york city. helso offered a hint on what he plans to do after leaving office. some supporters believe fenty lost his election bid because voters were upsety school reform. fenty was asked what's next for the two of them? >> well, she's go her potential decision to make but i can tell you what, both of us have seen enorus progress able to be made at the local level and both of us are going to stay involved. we're probably going to be just as much aguy tagitators from th outside as well as from the inside. fenty criticized teachers unions for getting in the way of progress. the discussion is part of our week long series to discussion on state of our nation's schools. 11:14is our time. just ahead form he president jimmy carter remains in the

hospital. coming up we'll have the latest on the condition of the 85-year-old president. president obama is spending time with families in iowa and virginia. we'll tell you what he hopes to accomplish. or maybe not. the mix up that has people talking around the world. stay with us ring ring. progresso. everyday i eat your soups instead of goingut to lunch, i save a lot of money. that's great. so, your delicious rich and hearty soups have made me, rich and hearty. well, i'm rich because... i know, i get it. i laughed. and i'm hearty because of your juicy steak, your potatoes, your pearl onions. well, you know, everything you want to eat for lunch is right in the. so you're really, rich and happy. yeah see, i like rich and hearty better.

[ male announcer ] progresso you gotta taste this soup. and a lot of people, when they get a denture, they think the best wa to clean it is by brushing it with toothpaste. toothpasteontains abrasives that scratch dentures, leaving microscopic crevices where bacteria can grow, and bacteria can cause bad breath. thbest way to go is to soak them in polident. only polident is prove to clean without scratching and kills 99.9% of odor-causing bacteria. i recommend using polident and soak every day. it's the right way to go. my dad is the supervisor of a train station d my mom's a teacher. my dad's an auto technician. my mom's aeceptionist. i'm not sure i would have been able to afford college without the tuition freeze. while tuition in other states is rising out of reach... governor o'malley made the tough choice to freeze tuition. he made my dream of going to college into a reality. i'm the first in my family to go to college. my brother and i never would have been able to afford college. even though times were tough... governor o'malley kept his promise.

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carter is still under oervation at an ohio hospial this morning. he was admitted to the metro health medical center in cleveland yesterday after experiencing stomach pains on a flight. he was hospilized and told to stay the nightbut doctors said it was precautionary. former president was supposedo atwoend events here in washington today but now it's unclear if those events will still happen. the first was a book signing at 12:30 at politics and prose in environment d.c. he was scheduled to appear at the smithsonian's program tonight. president obama is hoping to re-gerontologyies young voters. the president is holding a series of backyard discussion in des moines, iowa. here's a live look at that. many observers say democrats are in danger o losing control of house and estimates. president obama tells democrats

to ignore polls and pun dartments. >> we can't let this country fall back wards because the rest of us didn't care enough to fight. >> the president will wrap up his fourth state tour in richmond this afternoon. and veronica johnson is with us today and here to talk about the weather. we have some pretty nasty weather coming our way later today? >> i don't think that our evening rush will be too bad but for thursday morning and thursday evening totally different story. you want to get an early start as much as yo can because with the big drops that are coming to us, moderate and heavy rain will slow things down o the roadways. let's go aheadnd take a look outside. temperature of 69 degrees right now at ronald reagan washington national airport. not going to be as warm as yesterday. we got into the 8s, low 80s yesterday. 69 now the dew point temperature, 61 degrees. dry year is over us but that's going to change too. you'll notice more humidity as the day wears on. north-northeast wind at five.

miles per hour. easterly wind helping to bring in the moisture and it will be picking up too. in terms of rainfall and where we are right now to go all the way back to january 1, our rainfall deficit now, right now is close to 7 1/2 inches. let's get you updated on the temperatures throughout the area. sterling now at 66 degrees. around fairfax, mclean 66, 64 degrees in mclean as well as quantico 64 degrees. here's a look at the radar loop over the last couple of hours. you can see that moisture down south around virginia, around areas through raleigh, north carolina. that's the fir wave of rain that's coming to us. the second wave actually with nicole further south down around southern florida when it makes its way northward. look at the rain already, cocoa beach, florida over three inch, winds at 20 miles per hour. wind will pick up and rainill pick up too. starting late tonight and going through thursday night flash

flood watch for the entire area and it's this whole area i think that cou see anywhere between two and four inches of rain by the time things end on thursday la. two to four inches with some isolated eas picking up as much as five and some spots around the eastern portion of north carolina could see as much as eight to ten inches of rainfall. so there's the one low. the first low we're watching. the secondary storm system actually nicole that is going to make its way late today just east ever miami, florida and then make its way up the coast. i think the main center wl actually start making its way on inland. two to four inches of rain tonight on through thursday. you can see some heavy rain already aroun the coastal areas of north carolina. th's the location that just early part of the week, wilmington picked up more than 10 inches ever rain. record rainfall. there it is. early tomorrow morning about 7:00 some very heavy rain across the area. then there's the tropical system

moving up the coast and perhaps even off to the ast. so we will be getting wind with it too. winds eventually wrapping in and coming in out of the northwest late tomorrow. for today showers developing from moderate to heavy rain. 69 to 73 degrees your high temperature for today. by tomorrow morning i think flooding is pretty likely. probably going to see flash flood warnings up for the area. then, on friday should hit a gh of 75 degrees. after at rain e thursday night high 75 with sunshine. the weekend right now saturday the high 70 degrees. and then in the 60s for sunday where we could have some cloud cover coming to the area. so things are going to get pretty interest ago round here starting late tonight, streams, rivers rising quickly. you want to keep an eye on those. if you have any gutters because of the leaf droppage we had from stress of rainfall deficit you want to clean out those gutters. >> i better search for those

galoshes. nobody has to seemy feet. thanks a lot. we'll talk to you again shortly. we'll check the midday traffic. erry, you do you have galoshes. >> yes. let's head out and take a look at this hour. as we travel through northeast washington road work in place along kenilworth, inbound and outbound as well as parts of eastern avenue. for the most part very doable not much in the waive delays. over in virginia it is a different story. 395 northbound very slow beginning about army-navy drive heading to inand across the 14t street bridge. traffic is running slowly. extra couple minutes of travel time is a good idea. our time is 11:23. was at it stunt or an accident? the navy helicopter dips into a lake.

we'll that have latest on the investigation. from marijuana to prescrtion drugs the number of americans using illegal drugs is on the rise. we'll sit down with a psychiatrist aunt talk about fighting addiction. a new tv series is getting a lot of attention. law enforcement is watching too. ere's what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

chelsea, it's you. . that was chelsea being announced the winnerof australia's next top model during the finale of a live tv show in australia. there was only one problm. she wasn't the winner. i'm so sorry. oh, my god. i don't know what to say. this is a complete accident. it's amanda. i'm so soy. >> oh wow. the real winner was 18-year-old amanda ware. the show producers are denying

th the on air ffe was a publicity stunt. is navy is investigating an incident at lake tahoe. the pilots were on their way to a naval air base when they attempt to do an unauthorized hover maneuver. it slowly descended into the water. the pilots righted the helicopter and flew to the nearest airport. both helicopters sustained thousands of dollars in damage. our time is 11:27. coming up, an update on a story we've been following a morning, a large fire inside a i had rise apartment building right here in the district. one person is dead, three others a fighting for their lives. we're also keeping a close eye on the weather. heavy rain is headed in this direction. flood is pop.

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right now on news 4 midday police have arrested a man with a deadlyhooting o u street. brandon miller ischarged with first degree murder. miller and possibly one other person opened fire on an suv as a funeral service wa letting

out. also right now investigators are trying to figure out what sparked a deadly fire at a high rise apartment in northwest d.c. that fire started early this morning in the 31 block of 16th street in the columbia heights neighborhood. tracee wilkins was there. she has the latest. >> porter: people who witnessed this morning's fire in the 3100 block of 16th street as it began, say it was one of the most graphic scenes they've ever seen. ace walked out there were people there laying on the ground, are burnt up, clothes have burned of >> reporter: when firefighters arrived a number of people still trapped inside were rescued. dozens were evaluated on the scene. at it people were transported to the hospital including one child and also a man who jumped from the sixth floor to avoid flames. >> we now have for sure one fatality. we have three folks in critical condition which are adults. one child in critical condition. and several others transport.

>> reporter: fire spokesman said they believe thi fire started on the fifth floor near a stairwell. when crews arrived fire extended three floors above to the roof. >> the fire transmitted into all unit tons fifth floor except for two. >> don't know if it was something burning. >> that was tracee wilkins reporting. there's a big announcement volving students in arlington county. they will soon be using apple ipads as digital text books. arlington will join newport news in the pilot program. virginia department of education announced the program this morning at a school in southern virginia. as par of nbc's week long focus n education this morning we'll sit down with superintendents of arlington public schools. this year the school system is dealing with another increase in enrollment. dr. patrick murphy joins us this morning to talk about the challenges facing educators and students all over the country right now but specifically in

your area in the arlington county schools. welcome. >> good morning. >> tell us a little bit abou arlington, especially this announcement that just came out. your kids going to be getting the ipads to use >> yes. we're really excited about this. this is really some work we started back last spring and it's in relationship to a survey that we did because we were transitioning fromprint material text books to electronic text books. so we needed to see how we would bridge that transition. was our community ready for that. we did a survey and we found out how many kids have access at home, how many kids hae, you know, access to the internet or have some type of a device and we found out some good information about that and that's what resulted in us pursuing this grant with the state. >>do you think t kids will be more willing to read from books, i mean from an electronic books? that's what are they into in this age. >> we're at aridging process.

you got to change behaviors. you got to have people begin to adapt. it will provide us some flexibility. the oth piece we've been able to do and this just happened in the last week, we've been able to expand on this initiative. we secured some funding from local agency. so we're probably going to double that initiative coupled with what the state is doing. this looks really promising for us. specifally, it's for kids with limited english proficiency and students that may not have access. we have a pretty rative small subset of students who fit that category. >> kids will no longer hve a big stack of books to carry. everything will be on that -- it is an ipad. >> one device. it will be apple. we're also looking at net books so students have the flexibility. the issue we're trying to get here is delivering the media and

information through a varietyf different sources and giving kids flexibility. that may be suprted with print material as well. we're in the transition phase and that's really important for pits to realize. >> interesting to hear how it works. you have a growing enrollment and you've added 14 newrailers to serve as classrooms. will those be temporary. you expecting some bulling to go on there. >> there's a couple o things that's happening with that. first, we've seen an increase in our enrollment over the past five years and that's interesting, years prior to that we've seen a steady decline. so the demographics are changing. we're watching that very closely. we've en close to projection. we' got pretty good forecasting tools in the sense of what's happening out there. i think relocatables is part of a panel that we have in looking at a lo range plan. we have a five year long range plan right now where we're looking at how we'll make these transitions. we had phase one at yorktown

high school just completed and we're excited about that. we had a renovation at jefferson middle school coming out october 2nd w have an open house at 10:00 a.m. also have a referendum coming before the public for our last comprehensive high school, wakefield high school and looking for a lot of community support. >> you mentioned the change of demographics. has that bean challenge to you? what is the change? >> first thing you haveto realize is we're increasing the population and sohere have been some shifts. those shifts have been relatively slight. we've seen decrease in some pop layings and those are small, relatively smal and some increase in some of the popular ethnic race groups as well and that shift has been small. proportionately the main issue is we have more students. and we're happy about that. >> congratulations on the s.a.t. scores in yo county and mainly

for minority students you saw some gains. how do you explain that? >> rigor. high expectations. a number of our schools are nked in the top schools in the naion that's through our a.p., advanced placement programs. so i think it's setting the bar and our kids meeting that expectation. >> fantastic, dr. patrick murphy, congratulations. gooduck with the school year. we're very happy you came in to talk to us today. >> thank you. a middle school on the eastern shore is doing great things. ann curry visited the school where a strong lead tirnd a failing school into a winning school. >> reporter: caroline, not your average principal. overseeg not your average middle school miracle. in rural maryland where 61th of her students live in povty, a number that's rising in the

recession. and yet her school's math and reading scores have jumped 30% in just seven years. how did you do it? >> it happens in the classroom. my job as the principal is to take the passion that i have for these children succeeding and pass that on to the teachers. >> reporter: her rategy, teaching respect and responsibility. >> we'll sign the contract so we can do better. >> reporter: while focusing on the whole child. >> they have to have their basic needs met before they are ready to learn. >> report: so a social worker helps the kids and their families. >> i assist parents and getting assistance with their rent, utilities, mortgage. >> reporter: while providing emotional support. kayla once struggled in school after her parents' divorce.

>> at first i didn't want to do anything because i was always down but now i actually want to be a teacher and i want to work here at this school. i am lucky to be here because people care about me and want me to do better. >> reporter: it's a safe, welcoming environment. >> don't know another school that has a fish tank. >> reporter: which at the same time maintainsigorous standards. >> all eight graders take algebra 1. >> reporter: vabulary words are every where. on top of that, after school programs are so popular 86% of the students participate. >> that was ann curry reporting. we've been talking weather this morning. we got some, would you call it dangerous weather or soaking weathe > soaking, you know, two to four inches. there are those areas that typically flood. just be mindful of the fact that the streams, the creeks, rivers

will be rising quickly. get your umbrella ready and get set to do some battle with some awfully big rain drop across the area. 69 foggy bottom, now in montgomery county, colesville at 68 degrees. in terms of the area, flood watch starts tonight runs through thursday night. this whole area could see two to four with some locations getting as much as five. that increases as you getown into areas of eastern virginia, north carolina. it could be up to five to ten inches. for us now it's light rain that will be moving in. moderate to heavyain coming our way later tonight, heavy through tomorrow morning and midday tomorrow. >> thank you very much. let's head out to the roads and see how things are looking. for the most part we're doing pretty well. we have construction along i-95 as you he on down through lorton and newington on the northbound and southbound side. they picked up the cones. that's in preparation for the l moving up. right now the lanesre open and one more stop over at the

american legion bridge, both direction travel lanes are open. crews have been cleaning the storm drains. right now no worries. we're looking good. thank you. 11:41 is the time. still ahead, stocks gain ground in tuesday trading. we'll lookhere numbers stand now. plus fight addiction the growing one appetizer plus two entrees $20 dinner for two. equas share one of five appetizers, like o famou texas cheese fries.

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with only two trading days left this month the dow is on track to be the best september since 1939. we're going to chck in with cnbc courtney regan. >> reporter: good morning. just because we've hit a little bit of a snag the dow is down 16 points we're still on track for the best september since 1939. after all three major indices posted modest gains on tuesday we've been in a slight back and forth the last two days. the news from yesterday unfortunately not enough to keep european markets in positive territory they closed fairly flat today. improving sentiment in japan and rising in chinese factories has being market orders mixed. there were record low rates. family dollar storeseporting their quarterly earnings well

above wall street estimates. washington is to discussion on taxes today after 47 house democrats broke rank with president obama yesterday on that very issue. in a letter to house speaker nancy pelosi the lawmakers supported key things the bush era tax, capped at 15%. president obama has said he wants to let those cuts expire at the end the year. and according to a recent cnbc poll 55% of respondents said raising taxes on anyroup of americans will slow the economy and kill jobs. marriage rates are falling. according to census data marriage rates fell to a record low in 2009 with just 52% of adults 18 and over saying they are, in fact, joined in wedlock compared with 57% in the year 2000. they think the economy could be partly to blame saying younger people may be choosing delay marriage as they struggle to find work.

i would suggest parents are asking home to hold off. weddings are expensive. >> for some reason they are deciding to hold off. thank you. see you tomorrow. the rate illegal drug use rose last year to the highest leel in nearly a decade fueled by a sharp increase in marijuana use and surge in ecstasy and methamphetamine abuse. we have a psychiatrist to join us this morning to talk about the growing problem. good morning. how big is the problem? we just heard is growing. your seeing a lot of this in ur practice now? >> i am. i'm seeing big increase with people who are having problems with prescription pain medicatn. common pain medications are things like vicatin, oxycontin, morphine. they are huge problem. the director of drug policy said

prescription opiate and drug abuse is the number one drug proem facing americans. currently there are more than 2 million americans addicted to prescription opiates and second only to marijuana in terms of the most commonly abused form of drug. are we talking about kids or adults? >> both. in fact, a study was do that showed about 15% of hgh school seniors at some point in the last year tried either oxycontin and/or vicatin. >> these are prescription drugs. where are they getting them? >> the majority of the people that are getting their hands on these medications are getting them from friends and family or out of thr own family's medicine cabinet. so 55% of people getting them from friends and family. 20% of peopl get them from a doctor and then have a tendency to misuse them. some patients or some people are getting them off the street from a drug dealer or some are getting them off the internet. let's talk about the risks ever

using this medication recreation recreationally. >> big risk. it has to do with the risk of death. these medications are used for pain but one of the most concerng side effects they suppress your respiratory drive. people start breathing less frequently over the course a minute and that can lead to death in se cases. >> now if a child is doing this and taking things out of their parents' medicine cabinets is there any wa to recognize the symptoms of this kind of drug use? >> well, the things that parents want to be on the look out for are changes in your child's personality. in particular, people who generally take these medications are going to be much more laxed. so they are going to get lazr, sleeping more, seem like they are nodding off, seem a little bit out of it. you look for a decline in their grades. changes in their overall demeanor. generally people who are hooked

on prescription pain medications eat less. you'll see weight loss. >> howard is it to come off of these drugs? is it dangerous to just stop using them if you're adiktd and using them? >> it's difficult to get off of these medications. it's not necessarily dangerous. one thing that a lot of people don't know there are only three drugs that are potentially life threatening if you try to get off them cold turkey. alcohol. barbituates, the old doirns. prescription opiates make people feel like they are dying when they come off of it. they get muscle acs. diarrhea. abdominal pain. they feel like they are dying but not life threatening. >> we've all been watching the lindsay lohan show out in californ. is it opiates or prescription

drugs she's addicted to? >> my understanding is lindsay lohan has a problem with multiple. alcohol, cocaine, prescription drugs. >> h hard is it for her to break the habi just from your experience of watching other people. is she -- will rehab help her or does she need the tough love of jail? you call that tough love. >> jail does help some people. it is very difficult for her. there are a few reasons. number one, the medication,he prescription pain medications. these prescription opiates they cause a strong physical dependence. people get these intense withdrawal symptoms. they feel so terribly they feel they need to go back to take the medication to stop themselves from being bed ridden. that's problem number one. the main problem i think from reading aboutindsay lohan is that she is addicted to numerous

substances and it seems that lindsay lohan just doesn't regnize the ft that she has a drug problem. the first step for anyone who wants to get off drugs is for them to recognize that they have a problem. and you can't makeomebody recognize that they have a problem. they've realize it on their own. >> when you're caught in the mid. it like she is, obviously f-she's strung out on drugs who will make that go way? who will stop it unless they lock her up or put her in a rehab program. >> hopully shell stay in a rehab program and stay there a substantial amount of time. lindsay lohan is surrounded by a number of people whore enabling her drug habit. people who are -- first of all, she's very wealthy so she has a lot of money to spend on drugs and she's young and young people aremoreikely to use drugs as well. >> thank you very much for joining us. we look forward to seeing you next wednesday. >> thanks for having me. >> coming up an investigation

into a new tlc program showcasing a man with four wives. veronica johnson will

> police in utah have started an investigation no to a family

that is involved in bigamy. brown knew he was taking a risk. >> he first of all sid he was very humbled and very sobered by the whole experience, but that he had found peace in his heart. and even though it has been a real shock to them to find out about the investigation, he said he had absolutely no regrets. there's an important story he wants to tell and that's why felt it wasorth the risk. >> and he says cody brown is trying to educateeople that polygamy is a vital lifestyle between consenting adults. polygamy is not normally prosecuted in utah. however in this case legal experts believe the lifestyle is being faunted. > let's take a look at some stories we're following.

starting at 4:00 more and more people are gettingdivorced. there's divorce inurance. we have all the hot talk for us and tonight at 5:00 the bridge project won't be finished until next year. those stories plus your forecast are starting tonight on news 4 at 4:00. here's veronica johnson with final forecast. >> a good soaking coming to the area. i think the areas that we have to wrry about are the areas that just got hit with heavy rain and then as we move on there will be wt's called training in some locations you get the heavy rain moving through and more heavy rain on top of those same locations. right now it's a cool one. we don't have much within. 69 ithe temperature. right now in cleveland park, mitchellville, kensington up to 68 degrees. ocean city our wa spot at 70. i want to show you where the rain is right now with this

tropical system. you can see the circulation. it's onshore. the center now of what is tropical storm nicole is sitting just to the east of key west just to the south of miami. but it is now some moderate and probably a little bit of heavy rain embedded south of miami that's starting to make its way ashore. what we're getting is rain from an initial low pressure system. nonetheless we're talking about rain on top of rain. it starts tonight runs through thursday night. some areas gettingas much as five inches of rain. we could see sustained winds coming from tropical storm nicole between 20 and30 miles per hour. gusts between 40 and 45 miles per hour. tod of 69 to 73. heavy ra developing later this evening and flooding tomorrow morning. heaviest late tonight and then going through the first part of tomorrow. okay. thank you for being with us today. we'll see you tomorrow. that's it for midday.

thanks for joining us. tune it for news 4 at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00. hi there. i'm ian wright

and i'm investigating what makes aruba so happy. oh my word, that's fantastic. ♪ row your boat gently down the stream... ♪ i'll tell you what; it's not aloe vera the main expt. it's happiness i haven't en got bait on the end of mine. i don't care; it's just nice sitting here. you're getting it. you're getting it. (female announcer) previously on the real housewives: (colton) took apart the golf cart so shane couldn't destroy it.